The Wave cover art

The Wave

In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Wave

By: Susan Casey
Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $22.99

Buy Now for $22.99

About this listen

From Susan Casey, bestselling author of The Devil’s Teeth, an astonishing book about colossal, ship-swallowing rogue waves and the surfers who seek them out.

For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller. Until recently scientists dis­missed these stories—waves that high would seem to violate the laws of physics. But in the past few decades, as a startling number of ships vanished and new evidence has emerged, oceanographers realized something scary was brewing in the planet’s waters. They found their proof in February 2000, when a British research vessel was trapped in a vortex of impossibly mammoth waves in the North Sea—including several that approached 100 feet.

As scientists scramble to understand this phenomenon, others view the giant waves as the ultimate challenge. These are extreme surfers who fly around the world trying to ride the ocean’s most destructive monsters. The pioneer of extreme surfing is the legendary Laird Hamilton, who, with a group of friends in Hawaii, figured out how to board suicidally large waves of 70 and 80 feet. Casey follows this unique tribe of peo­ple as they seek to conquer the holy grail of their sport, a 100­-foot wave.

In this mesmerizing account, the exploits of Hamilton and his fellow surfers are juxtaposed against scientists’ urgent efforts to understand the destructive powers of waves—from the tsunami that wiped out 250,000 people in the Pacific in 2004 to the 1,740-foot-wave that recently leveled part of the Alaskan coast.

Like Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, The Wave brilliantly portrays human beings confronting nature at its most ferocious.
Adventure Travel Ecosystems & Habitats Environment Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Water Sports
All stars
Most relevant
As an ocean scientist hoping to learn something about the science of waves, I was disappointed. Plenty of human interest material in a wave context - surfer's looking for big waves and whatnot. If thats your thing, you'll love it. By the way, how did the author determine that Holly was as tough as any man aboard? Is there a scale?

Not what I expected. My mistake. But well read by the narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

More biography and travelogue than the oceanographic investigation I anticipated. The author interviews a lot of people but they don't say much. Shoals rather than depths, the Wave is a good light read with sprinkles of fact.

More Surf than Science

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.